Coconut-Pecan Strawberry Shortcakes

Yesterday was our 41st. wedding anniversary.  We had a wonderful brunch at Legends did some shopping at a green house and came home.  It was a wonderful day!  We stopped and picked up some strawberries and other ingredients for this wonderful strawberry shortcake because I knew we would want something later that evening. 

This is a wonderful strawberry shortcake recipe.  I went by the recipe making the shortcakes which said you would have 8 (2 1/2 by 3 inch) cakes but I ended up with 12 that were huge after they baked.  You might want to experiment with cutting the size.  As you can see by the picture, ours was pretty big.  Another suggestion I want to make is, I cut the strawberries and seasoned them and there was some juice but not enough to make it really tasty so that the shortcake soaks up some of the juice.  Next time, I will buy a container of frozen strawberries and mix with fresh berries so there will be more juice.  You my not like that much juice so this is just a suggestion. We loved the shortcake recipe it's an updated version with coconut and pecans in the dough.  Who wouldn't like that?

Shortcakes
4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
5 teaspoons baking powder
11/2 table salt
3/4 cup butter, cubed
11/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut, toasted
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon coconut extract
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream, divided
1 cup finely chopped pecans
8 pecan halves

Strawberries
1 quart strawberries, halved
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons sugar

Sweet Mascarpone Cream
1 (8oz.) container mascarpone cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
1 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Whisk together flour and next 3 ingredients in a large bowl.  Cut butter into flour mixture with a pastry blender until mixture resembles small peas.

Process toasted coconut in a food processor until finely chopped.  Whisk together eggs, extracts and 1 cup of cream.  Add egg mixture, chopped pecans and toasted coconut to flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon just until blended.  Knead dough in bowl about 10 times using lightly floured hands.  (Dough will be soft and moist.)

Turn dough out on a floured surface and gently pat to a 1-inch thickness.  Cut into 8(2 1/2 x 3inch) squares, reshaping dough once.  Place shortcakes on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and chill 15 minutes.  Press 1 pecan half into each shortcake, brush tops with 1 tablespoon of heavy cream. Sprinkle with sweetened flaked coconut.

Bake at 400 degrees for 18 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes.
I prepared the strawberries while the shortcakes were baking.

Assemble: split shortcake in half horizontally.  Place each shortcake bottom on a dessert plate and top with about 1/2 cup of strawberry mixture and desired amount of sweet mascarpone cream and top with other shortcake half.